Ink
by PoisonBones
Summary: Aang, Katara, and Bumi are visiting the Royal Palace. There is quite a bit to see and do in the expanse of the place, and Bumi and the princess commit a little harmless fun. / Yes, I know Zuko's daughter's name is Izumi, no, I don't care. I like Honora better, so that is what I called her. Little kid Honumi friendship.


**Yes, I know that Zuko's daughter is named Izumi, but I like Honora better. And I am a total Honumi shipper, so these are just a little Kid!Honumi drabble. Enjoy!  
-PoisonBones**

Western Bluebirds were extremely rare. They were nearly extinct, due to Sozin declaring them as good game for sport hunting. They were protected now though, and a pair of the red and blue birds was flitting around the courtyard, chirping at one another.

Honora watched them from the window. She was perched on the edge of a velvet seated chair, staring out onto the ground below. Mother would scold her for standing on a chair, but her mother and father were both in an important meeting, so the little princess took all she could get. She was doing her best to wait patiently, but she was struggling. Uncle Aang and Aunt Katara had come to visit. Uncle was in the meeting with dad and mom, and a very pregnant Katara was talking amiably to one of the kitchen servants. But that's not what she was waiting for. Bumi, Aang and Katara's son, was taking a fire nation placement test. They were planning on enrolling him in a fire nation school, being as they were the leading nation in academics.

She wrinkled her nose at the window for no apparent reason. She turned to look around, if there was nothing to do until Bumi got out, she would have to entertain herself. She was in her father's office, so all she saw was an array of books on shelves, some scattered maps, and a little notepad that was lying on his desk. She found what she wanted though.

Honora climbed down off the chair and pushed it towards the bookshelf to the left of her father's desk. The chair was heavy, and only moved a few feet at a time, but with a little effort the chair was sitting in front of the bookshelf, being used as a footstool as Honora looked at the shelf. The chair did not elevate her high enough to see what she wanted very well, so she stood on her tippy-toes and reached around for her desired prize, using only sense of feels and blurry glimpses as a guide. It took her a second, but her fingers closed around the dropper, and she pulled the container off the shelf by the hollow rubber nub.

She twirled it around in her hands a few times before she located the label. Premium Calligraphy Ink: Black, it read. She twisted off the lid and peered in, rotating the bottle to make the thick, dark liquid swirl around. She smiled. Putting the lid back on, she dropped the small bottle into her pocket, and climbed down off the chair.

She walked down to the courtyard and looked around. It was empty, still no Bumi, so she settled for walking up behind Katara and fisting her hands in her aunts blue robes. Katara looked down; caressing the back of Honora's head and smiled.

"Hey sweetie." She said warmly, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Honora replied innocently, "Where's Boom?"

Katara smiled again, "He's still taking his test sweetheart."

"Oh," Honora looked down a little, appearing sad, before looking back up at her aunt, "When's he gonna be done?"

"Right now." Came a voice from behind her. Before she knew it, two dark arms wrapped around her middle and lifted her up off the ground in greeting.

"Bumi!" She exclaimed happily as he put her down.

She whipped around to face her best friend, "Are you done with your test?"

"Yup," He said with a grin, "It was easy."

"Good, cause I got something for you."

"Uh," Katara eyed the little girl skeptically skeptically, "Is this something going to get you into trouble?"

"No." Honora said quickly, before grabbing Bumi's hand and pulling him across the courtyard and into the palace.

They rounded a corner on the second floor and she stopped him.

"Okay, quit dragging me all over. What did you get me?" Bumi asked eagerly.

Looking around, Honora saw that there wasn't a single servant or guard in the hall. Deeming it safe enough, she stuck her hand into her pocket and pulled out the small bottle, lifting it up for him to see.

"Ooh." He marveled. She nodded.

"Ooh, indeed. C'mon." She his hand to start pulling him again, but he resisted.

"Where are we going now?" He huffed.

"We can't play with this in the hallway dum-dum. We'll have to do it in the bathroom." Bumi made a small 'o' with his lips allowed Honora to drag him into a large bathroom.

She closed the door and peeled off her outer robes, leaving her in her pants, tunic, and shoes. She pulled two stools up to the sink, she climbed on one and Bumi climbed onto the other. She put the bottle down on the edge of the sink on pulled off the lid. She just looked at it for a second, where as Bumi dipped his finger into it. He looked into the mirror, and began to draw a mustache on his reflection. Honora grinned and copied his movements.

She made her mustache into a stiff line across her upper lip; Bumi put a lot of effort into making perfect swirls. He looked over and inspected hers.

"Mines better." He bragged.

Honora glared at him, "It is not."

"Is too."

"Is not!"

"Is too!" Honora crossed her arms over her chest and put on a neutral face, one she had seen her father use when speaking to his advisors.

"Well," She said, "If it's so perfect, then why don't you draw it on your face?"

Bumi raised his eyebrows and grinned, "Nope, not on mine. I'll draw it on yours though."

Honora frowned, not understanding the implications of that, and she was thoroughly surprised when he reached forward and poked and ink slathered finger into her cheek. She gasped, blinking at him incredulously, before launching herself at him with a battle cry.

"Augh!" He yelped. He fell back wars off the stool, barely managing to catch himself so he didn't hit the floor. He jump back up and pushed her back. The ink bottle fell over and hit the marble counter with a heavy plink. Ink sprayed across the countertop, making a dark, black puddle, and covering their clothes with black dots and drips.

Honora dipped her hands into it and attacked Bumi from the side. The boy began to convulse into giggles as he was tickled. He back out of her reach and, using his longer arm span to an advantage, grabbed the front of her tunic and drug his hand down the side of her face. She grabbed his hands and attacked him the same way.

It was a pretty fair fight, really. They were both about the same size, equal weight, and both were covered from head to toe in the syrupy substance. There wasn't exactly a clear winner, though; they were both rolling over each other, both giggling like maniacs.

Bumi leapt up from the floor and yanked the door open, and dashed out into the hallway. Honora kept her hand wrapped up in Bumi's shirt, pulling herself forward into the hallway as well, and fisting her free hand in his hair.

Someone cleared their throat.

Both children froze, slowly turning to their right. Aang and Zuko, heading out to the courtyard after the meeting, were both standing side by side, Aang staring at them blankly, Zuko standing with his arms crossed, looking stern.

"Uh….." Honora droned. She removed her hands from Bumi, choosing not to speak. Bumi however had a different idea.

Bumi pointed a finger at her, "It was her!" He said quickly, "She stole the ink and said we could play with it."

Honora, angry and offended, pointed a finger back at him, "Okay, yes, I stole it, but he's the one started the ink fight!"

A squeak, then a chuckle, then outrageous bout of laughter. Aang struggled to contain his mirth, wiping tears from his eyes, as Zuko started to laugh as well.

"C'mon," Zuko said, "You can clean up the bathroom later; right now we need to worry about you.

The ink did not come off easy, but after soap and a little scrubbing, it removing itself from the children's skin. It stained them though, it was not as noticeable on Bumi's dark skin, but it stuck out on Honora like a sore thumb. Patches of dark blue littered her arms and face. Zuko said she looked like she got in an ink fight, which she did, Bumi said she looked like a deformed leopard goat

It was now later in the afternoon. Aang and Zuko were sitting outside the hallway, conversing over tea, served on a table that had been moved to the middle of the corridor. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Bumi and Honora were on their hands and knees, scrubbing tediously at the floor with cleaner. They were not making much progress to say the least.

Honora dropped her scrub brush and sat back on her ankles, examining a blue splotch on her left arm.

She breathed a deep breath, "Bumi?"

The dark skinned boy looking up at the girl, "What?"

"The next time I want to try something stupid like this, slap me."

Bumi bent over the floor again and began to scrub furiously.

"Gladly."


End file.
